Cool. Rummy. Fruity. Fun. Tiki drinks have been making a big comeback lately. This summer, how about mixing yourself up a couple at home?

Tiki recipes can seem a little daunting to the home mixologist. Sometimes they call for obscure ingredients like falernum and orgeat syrups. Often a single drink will be made with multiple types of rum. And then there's the barware. Ceramic mugs shaped like Polynesian wooden carvings, bamboo stalks, and even skulls. Where to begin?

Well, it doesn't have to be that complicated.

I'm a bit of a newbie to tiki myself. I But this summer, I decided to make tiki a special project - starting with a Mai Tai.

Mixing That First Mai Tai

One of the all-time greatest tropical drinks, the Mai Tai seemed like a good place to start. I used a recipe from Trader Vic's, circa 1958, that I found in Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari by Jeff Berry.

The Ingredients

Like most tiki drinks, the Mai Tai has a longish list of ingredients: lime juice, simple syrup, orgeat (a special almond syrup flavored with rose and/or orange flower water), orange curaçao, and two, yes two different kinds of rum: an aged Jamaican rum as well as an amber rhum agricole from Martinique.

The Technique

I rounded everything up, including a bottle of orgeat syrup made by Fee's. (There are also a number of recipes for homemade syrup on the web, including this one, from Art of Drink, which I'd love to try out later.)

I started out by crushing the ice. I took 10 or so cubes and wrapped them in a tea towel, then hit them several times with a rolling pin. I measured out the ingredients and shook them up in a cocktail shaker, then poured everything (ice and all) into a rocks glass.

The Verdict

The drink was delicious. With the addition of orgeat syrup, orange liqueur, and two types of rum, my Mai Tai really was more complex and layered than the drink's simpler cousin, the Daiquiri. Definitely a keeper. I'm looking forward to further adventures in tiki this summer.

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake vigorously and pour (ice and all) into a rocks glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Have you ever made tiki drinks at home?

Nora Maynard is a longtime home mixologist and an occasional instructor at NYC's Astor Center. She is a contributor to The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and is the recipient of the American Egg Board Fellowship in culinary writing at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow. She previously covered food and drink in film at The Kitchn in her weekly column, The Celluloid Pantry.